Iran says a plan for the early delivery of a plane from US aviation giant Boeing has been cancelled.

ran says a plan for the early delivery of a plane from US aviation giant Boeing has been cancelled and the plane will not be delivered before next spring. Farhad Parvaresh, the head of the country’s national flag carrier airline Iran Air, told the domestic media that Boeing had proposed to hand over a 777-300ER by summer after Turkish Airlines withdrew its order for it.“We welcomed that proposal and started the due technical and commercial studies,” Parvaresh said. “However, when we were almost certain that we wanted the plane, it was no longer available.” He said Iran Air had announced that it would only go ahead with purchasing the plane provided that it would be available.“We have currently stopped our negotiations in absence of the plane,” added the official. Parvaresh further rejected speculations that Iran Air had come across financial difficulties and thus had cancelled the purchase of the plane. Boeing has already signed a deal worth $16.6 billion to sell 80 planes to Iran Air. It has also signed a $3 billion deal to sell 30 planes to Iran's Aseman Airlines.Boeing’s biggest European rival – Airbus – has signed another deal estimated to be worth some $25 billion to sell above 100 planes to the same company.Airbus has so far delivered three planes to Iran and more deliveries are expected to be made in the near future.On 14 April, Parvaresh was quoted by media as saying that Boeing officials were in capital Tehran to discuss an earlier-than-expected delivery of the first plane. He had emphasized that the proceedings to receive the plane would start provided that Iran Air conditions were met. “We are currently discussing this matter with them (Boeing). If Iran’s conditions are met, this plane would be most probably delivered to Iran within the next 45 days.”